1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electro-optical device and an electronic apparatus.
2. Related Art
In an active-matrix-type liquid crystal device (electro-optical device), a switching element is connected to each pixel electrode and the pixel electrode is switched by the switching element. For example, a thin film transistor (TFT) can be used as a switching element. The structure and operation of the thin film transistor are basically the same as those of a MOS transistor formed of single crystal silicon. As the structure of a thin film transistor formed of amorphous silicon (a-Si), a bottom gate structure (inverted staggered structure) in which gate electrodes are disposed below an amorphous silicon layer is generally used.
When manufacturing the thin film transistor, it is important to reduce the number of manufacturing processes and to increase the manufacturing yield. In addition, it is also important to effectively protect the thin film transistor against electrostatic damage that may occur during the manufacture of an active matrix substrate. A technique of protecting the thin film transistor against the electrostatic damage is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2744138.
According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 2744138, it is assumed that the thin film transistor can be protected against electrostatic damage occurring during a manufacturing process. However, static electricity may be generated during a process of manufacturing an electro-optical device, and in addition, the static electricity may be generated, for example, even during a process of mounting the electro-optical device in an electronic apparatus, a process of carrying the electro-optical device, and a process of packing the electro-optical device after the electro-optical device has been manufactured. Therefore, in order to ensure the reliability of the electro-optical device, it is necessary to effectively protect the electro-optical device against electrostatic damage even while the electro-optical device is being used as well as during the manufacturing process.